Elon Musk is a man with lots of problems. Here’s two more for him to deal with. And to be honest, I don’t know which is more of a threat to him. Let’s start with the EU investigating Twitter over disinformation:
The European Commission has opened formal proceedings to assess whether X may have breached the Digital Services Act (DSA) in areas linked to risk management, content moderation, dark patterns, advertising transparency and data access for researchers.
On the basis of the preliminary investigation conducted so far, including on the basis of an analysis of the risk assessment report submitted by X in September, X’s Transparency report published on 3 November, and X’s replies to a formal request for information, which, among others, concerned the dissemination of illegal content in the context of Hamas’ terrorist attacks against Israel, the Commission has decided to open formal infringement proceedings against X under the Digital Services Act.
That’s not good for Elon as if the EU finds that Twitter has violated the DSA, Twitter will have to not only cut a rather hefty cheque, but it is likely that the EU will make Elon do things that he doesn’t want to do, or be forced to pull out of Europe.
Now over to his other problem de jour:
Amid concerns over X’s flailing business, Elon Musk has reportedly been in discussions with bankers who financed his takeover of the social media platform, offering reassurances about their investment.
What Happened: Musk attempted to assure certain bankers, who provided him with a $13 billion loan for his leveraged buyout of Twitter (now known as X) in private conversations that they would not incur any financial losses in the deal, the Financial Times reported on Friday.
This comes as the banks face the prospect of significant losses from their involvement in the deal.
The Wall Street Journal earlier reported that these financial backers are now confronting the possibility of a $2 billion loss if they were to sell their debt currently.
Alienating the banks that financed the Twitter takeover is not a good idea as they’ll be inclined to get their money back from Elon in some fashion. Yes, they could eat this debt. But I don’t see that happening. Thus this is another thing that is likely keeping Elon awake at night.
It’s a safe bet that Elon is reconsidering his life choices right now.